


After My Blood Turns Into Alcohol

by starkanium



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol Abuse kind of, Brief suicidal thoughts, Depression, Drunk Tony, Hinted Child Abuse kind of if you squint really hard, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, break ups
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-19
Updated: 2014-07-19
Packaged: 2018-02-09 12:09:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1982451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkanium/pseuds/starkanium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Avengers help Tony with a recent break up... Kind of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After My Blood Turns Into Alcohol

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran. Thanks for reading!

Tony knocks back his drink - Black Label, he thinks, on the rocks - and revels in the bitterness as it drips down his throat.

He’s well on his way to being drunk, having passed being buzzed and tipsy a long time ago. His toes and fingertips have lost feeling, and he’s hoping that his heart does the same soon because it’s throbbing, and not in a good way.

He finds himself loathing his high tolerance for alcohol, missing how - back when he was almost sixteen and as skinny as a stick - he could get drunk in just a few gulps of something strong. That’s no longer the case. He’s been drinking for the past hour, at least, and he still feels that it’ll be at least ten minutes until he’s actually fully drunk.

That’s way too long to wait.

He considers mixing some of the painkillers that he has somewhere with his drink, but he decides against it. He wishes that he could drop dead, but he also knows that he’s thinking irrationally and that he should sober up before he actually makes an important decision like that.

Besides, that would be giving a hell of a lot of people the satisfaction of seeing him take his own life. There’s only about a billion people living that predict that he’s going to do it. He tries to prove them wrong.

“Sir, Doctor Banner is requesting access,” Jarvis’s voice echos around the room, snapping Tony from his drunken stupor.

“Tell ‘m to go ‘way, Jarv,” Tony replies, words slurring.

Not thirty seconds later, Dummy rolls up to the couch that Tony’s claimed. He chirps and tries to get Tony’s attention, snatching the blanket that’s draped over his master.

“Not now,” Tony mutters as he refills his glass, “Not now, Bud.”

Dummy shakes his robotic arm and rolls away, beeping sadly.

Tony grabs his phone from the coffee table beside the couch and dials Pepper’s number, letting his thumb hover over the call button. He sighs before deleting the number.

He repeats this process precisely seven times before throwing it across the room to shatter it against the wall. 

At least he can’t actually call Pepper now.

Tony doesn’t know how much time passes before there are five very angry looking Avengers standing above him.

“Tony, we understand why you may be a little upset with what happened yesterday, but there is no reason for you to mope down here and drink your life away!” Steve scolds.

“Yeah, Stark,” Natasha starts, “You act like a child when you don’t get something that you want. We are all, frankly, ashamed to be on a team with you.”

Ouch, that hurt.

“And,” Clint adds on, “You didn’t have to freak out just because some reporters insulted you. It happens all the time and it’s nothing that’s not true.”

And now Tony understands what they’re talking about because, before, he was completely lost. He can’t tell if he’s relieved or upset that they’re so far off of why he’s depressed.

His mind flashes back to the night before; cameras flashing, reporters shouting at him from behind the temporary gates. “The Avengers would be better off without you, just like everyone else in your life!” “No matter what you do to try to gain respect, everyone will always despise you.” “You claim that you’re no longer The Merchant of Death, but it seems that you’re only lying to yourself.”

Now, that had hit a lot of triggers. He knows everyone would be better off without him. He knows everyone hates him and he knows that nothing he does will allow people to forget who he was before. He knows that he’s still a horrible person. 

He knows, okay?

He remembers a lot of screaming from his part, and then strong hands carrying him away. He also remembers that the screaming wasn’t directed towards the reporters, but the echos of Afghanistan and the cave and the cold leather of a belt slapping his bare back.

But no, really, that isn’t the reason he’s down in his lab, drinking himself to the grave. Of course, that event led to the real reasoning, but The Avengers don’t know that.

“Pepper left me,” Tony mutters in a moment of clarity, relieving him of the drunken blur that everything had become for just a few seconds.

All of the hollering ceases at once.

He knows that he’s crying pathetically in front of these amazing people and they probably think that he’s just a sorry excuse for a human being, but he can’t find it in him to care. Besides, he can’t feel the tears because his face is too numb, so he pretends that he’s not really sobbing.

“Oh Tony,” a voice that sounds like Bruce’s murmurs before he’s enveloped in a hug.

He doesn’t know how long he and Banner sit there like that, but he does know that it feels really nice. It’s been awhile since he’s been hugged, and he thinks that he likes the feeling.

“We shall assist you in getting sober, Friend Stark. This is rather unhealthy and we would like to help,” whispers Thor. He seems to understand that Tony isn’t up for listening to booming voices loud enough to give him a headache.

Steady arms pick him up and carry him to the elevator. Tony buries his head in the mystery guy’s shoulder and tangles his fist in his shirt. He thinks that it’s probably Steve, based on the old man cologne he smells.

He doesn’t remember falling asleep in Steve’s arms, but when he wakes up, he’s lying on the couch in the communal living room with The Avengers talking amongst themselves quietly around him.

“Hey Tony,” Steve says when he sees that Tony’s awake. 

“Hey,” Tony replies, his voice rough and gravelly.

“We have a few gallons of coffee ice cream, your favorite,” Natasha informs him.

“And we have movies, too. We have Tropic Thunder, Friends With Benefits, and Paranormal Activity. We figured we’d let you choose,” Clint joins in. 

Tony smiles. They must’ve gone out and gotten the cure for the breakup blues. He admits that he needs some help and ice cream and movies sounds like a great idea to him. 

“Thanks guys,” Tony says honestly. 

Maybe this won’t be so bad.


End file.
